by Claire Adams
“Oh, man!” I burst out laughing.
“Wow, she’s got this business down!” Josh said as his hands went behind his head and he leaned back in the chair. “She makes more money than I do some months.”
“Now that is an official sugar baby,” I said.
“Wow, she has no shame, no qualms about asking for what she wants. She’s bold,” he said as he continued to laugh. “Maybe I should ask her out. No, I’m kidding. I can’t afford her.”
“I really don’t have an issue with girls doing that. I mean, you know there are guys out there that have no problem dropping some cash to make sure their date goes smoothly or to have a hot piece of ass on their arm for a charity event. Not really my style, but I don’t have anything against people who do that. Tell her no thank you.”
Brandon: Sorry, I’m not interested in that sort of relationship. Best of luck.
We could see that Kimberly was typing a message and both leaned in to see what her response was going to be. The anticipation was killing me as she typed and then backed out of the message, then started to type again.
Kimberly: I hate to disappoint you, but most of the women on here are looking for an arrangement. Why else would a guy like you be looking to date someone as young as I am?
“Oh, man,” Josh said. “She’s onto you.”
“Me! You’re the one who replied to her. Just say goodbye.”
“Maybe she’s right, Brandon. Maybe that other girl is also looking for an arrangement, but is just more discreet than this girl? The blonde did look really familiar to me.”
“Because you hang around women looking for financial arrangements often?” I joked.
“No, I swear I’ve seen her, but I just can’t place her face.”
Brandon: Have a nice day. Again, best of luck on finding what you’re looking for.
“She did look familiar to me, too. Not super familiar, though; at least I’m sure I’ve never slept with her.”
“Oh, well, at least you’re sure of that.”
Josh clicked on Delilah’s profile again as he scrolled through her photos. I had the feeling she and I had connected somewhere recently, but I just couldn’t remember where or when I had seen her. I also didn’t think I’d actually talked to her, so maybe I had just seen her in passing.
“Where does she work?” I asked.
“It doesn’t say. Was she at that art show we went to the other day?”
“Oh, shit, you know what? I think you’re right. Pull up her hobbies again,” I said.
“Yep, there you go. But, wow, if she was there, why weren’t you talking to her? You did talk to a lot of women that night.”
“Josh, you remember that girl who looked like she was going to murder the guy who grabbed her arm? That was her. I swear it was.”
“Oh, yeah! I see it now. She was hot!”
“See, so she’s not one of these girls who are looking for some sort of financial arrangement,” I replied in a bit of relief. “If she was at the art show, she probably has her own money and was looking to buy a painting herself. Maybe she’s even wealthier than I am.”
I was excited about the idea of going on a date with this girl. Not only would she be a hell of fun in the sack, she seemed to be pretty witty and able to hold a good conversation, too. She was beautiful and might also have money, so we wouldn’t have to worry about that as an issue.
“I hate to break it to you, but I’m even more convinced now that she’s one of these girls who wants to date for money. A party full of rich guys is the perfect place for a sugar baby to get hooked up with someone.”
“What are you talking about?” I protested. “She was at the art show, just like us.”
“Exactly. You were there because you have a bazillion dollars and they wanted you to buy stuff. I was there as your guest,” Josh said.
“Why else would she be there?” Josh continued. “Unless she’s rich like you, it’s pretty damn hard to get an invite to such an expensive art collection showing. Do you really think she has your kind of money and you’ve never heard of her? You knew almost everyone who was wealthy at that event.”
“Maybe she works there?”
“Maybe, or maybe she’s a sugar baby? Just keep your eyes open and… Oh, look what we have here – she is just logging in. It has a green bubble by her name.”
“Did she message me back?” I asked.
“Dude, you aren’t a teenager; come do this yourself. I’m getting back to my investing.”
“I’d rather do it myself,” I grumbled. “What should I say? I already asked her out and she ignored the message and got offline.”
“I’m sure you’ll think of something,” Josh said.
Brandon: Hey, how’s your day?
She didn’t respond. I wasn’t used to getting rejected by women and certainly wasn’t used to being ignored. I racked my brain to think of anything I might have said during our last online conversation, but I had totally behaved myself.
I found myself sitting at my laptop staring at the screen as I waited for her to respond. If she was one of those girls who just wanted a rich guy to give her an allowance, she wasn’t doing a very good job of hitting me up for money. If she was just a regular girl, I couldn’t figure out why she wouldn’t respond to me.
As I watched Josh get into his investing, it was easy to be envious of him. He really loved what he was doing and was really good at it.
I had felt like that while running my company, but after selling it, I was left with a big hole of time that I hadn’t quite figured out what to do with yet. Learning how to invest my own money was simply a place holder while I tried to figure out what my next big adventure was going to be.
One of the things I was lucky enough to learn right away in business was that I had to be passionate about what I was doing or it wasn’t going to work. I thought if I loved my job enough, then I’d never really be working, and it was the truth. I comfortably worked up to 15 hours a day because I worked from my phone, laptop, and airplanes. I wasn’t confined to an office, and I set my own rules for how I wanted things done. It had been one of the big keys to my success. I’d never have worked so hard if I hadn’t been passionate about what I was doing.
Delilah: Hi, Brandon. My day is good. I’ve been having problems with my computer at work. Sorry if our conversation got cut off.
Brandon: It’s all right. I’m used to women blowing me off…lol.
I totally was not used to it and after typing that message, it looked like I might have been saying I was really bad with women. That certainly wasn’t the truth. I had successfully landed every woman I’d gone after. Instead of correcting the perception, though, I figured it was fine to let her believe I had a little bit of a hard time with the ladies. Maybe that would get her to say yes to a date?
Delilah: Yeah, I doubt that.
Brandon: You never know. There might be a lot of women who have turned me down.
Delilah: Nope. You can’t sell this lie to me. I know better…lol. You’ve probably got hundreds of messages on here.
It was the truth, and I couldn’t argue with her. I did have a ton of inbox messages I hadn’t even bothered to look at yet. I was wrapped up in the instant messaging with Delilah and it seemed a much better way to start communication than through email, so I hadn’t bothered to look at the other messages.
Brandon: If you agree to go out with me, then you could make the assessment for yourself. How’s Friday sound?
Delilah: Nope, can’t do Friday. How about Saturday?
Brandon: Where and when?
Delilah: Isn’t that supposed to be your job to decide? I mean, how are you going to sweep me off my feet if you can’t make this decision? Ha!
Brandon: What’s your phone number? I’ll call you so we can discuss it.
The screen went quiet again. I waited in anticipation for her to disappear like she had done before. Her profile stayed there, and I stayed there waiting for her to answer. This girl seemed like so
meone I’d like to know, and I really hoped she was going to say yes.
“Why are you staring at your screen like that?” Josh laughed.
“I just asked her out and then asked for her phone number to set up the details. She hasn’t responded.”
“She’s getting her financial request organized so she can tell you how much she charges,” he chuckled.
“No, I don’t think she’s like that. I really don’t.”
“Want to make a bet?”
“What’s the terms?”
“If she asks for any sort of reimbursement for her time, you will let me drive that fancy blue convertible of yours for one day.”
“You could drive it anyways,” I said.
“I mean I want it for the whole day. I want to go pick up some hot chick and have her thinking I’m an uber-rich playboy. Deal?”
“The whole day? You’re crazy. What if you crash it? Oh, hell, whatever, fine. But if she doesn’t ask me for money, you’ll stay and show me how the futures market works.”
“Oh, God, why do you want to get into that? I told you the futures market is too volatile for new investors.”
“Is it a deal or not?” I noticed Delilah had started to type a message as the little bubbles on the screen moved across. “She’s typing right now. Is it a deal?”
“Deal! Come on, Delilah, be a sugar baby. Be a sugar baby!”
We both looked at the screen intently as we waited for her to answer. It was hard not to laugh at how much I wanted to get this girl’s number. There certainly seemed to be some sort of science to the idea of wanting what you can’t have because the more this girl pushed me away, the surer I was that I was going to have her.
Delilah: 818-555-4565, but call in an hour or so. I’m in the middle of something right now.
Brandon: Done. I’ll talk to you soon.
I couldn’t type fast enough after I read her message. There was also a weird dinging noise from the computer Josh was using for his investments. We both turned to look at the screen and saw flashing red down arrows across the monitor.
“Shit!” he said as he quickly pushed a few buttons. “See what I was saying? No distractions!”
“What happened?”
“I hadn’t put my sell order in yet and the stock dropped – I basically just lost a lot of money.”
“Sorry, but maybe you can make it up in the futures market when you teach me about that,” I laughed.
“Man, you are lucky I like you, dude.”
“Seriously, though, I’ll cover your loss on that. It was my fault. How about I put money into your trading account?”
“No, I don’t take charity.”
It wasn’t odd that Josh wouldn’t let me pay his loss from that sale, yet he had no problem with me paying him to teach me. He was a proud guy and an honest one, which was probably why we had become such good friends.
Chapter Five
Delilah
“Hello,” I said as I answered the unknown number that had called me.
“Hey, it’s Brandon from the dating site.”
I was really glad he hadn’t said Dating the Rich; it still bugged me that the company was named that. If our mission was to match people up, I never understood why we would designate our clientele to rich men primarily. Or why we seemed to have hundreds of thousands of young girls who matched up with the rich guys. It wasn’t exactly the mission I would have if I wanted to help people find true love.
“It’s nice to be able to put a voice to a face,” I laughed.
“So I was thinking we should go get a bagel Saturday morning; how does that sound?” Brandon asked.
“Sounds like you’re trying to see if I’m real or not.”
“Oh, you’re on to me.”
“What if I didn’t want to meet you for a bagel or coffee or whatever it is you’re planning. What if I only go on nighttime dates? What was your plan, then?”
“Hmm, first I’d think you were some sort of vampire if you only went on nighttime dates. But I’d be happy to take you out at night if it meant your vampire skin could stay safe.”
“Oh, my gosh; I’m not a vampire.”
This guy was funnier than I’d thought he was going to be. I found myself smiling from ear-to-ear. I also felt like my face was bright red with embarrassment. It was a good thing we were doing a little date over the phone before actually meeting.
Dating and I hadn’t been a good mix since Spencer had passed away. I felt awkward and weird anytime someone even mentioned taking me out. I wanted to be smooth and cool like I was used to going on dates, but the truth was that I wasn’t used to it, at all.
Spencer had been the only guy I’d really dated as an adult. My ex-mother in-law setting me up had been about as close to a real date as I’d gotten since. I tried to take a few deep breaths to calm my nerves as Brandon and I continued to talk.
“Then, Saturday morning, nine o’clock at Bella’s Bagels. I’ll meet you there.”
“What happened to the days of guys picking girls up from their houses for dates? Am I getting so old that you guys don’t do that anymore?” I teased him.
“You wouldn’t let a strange man you’ve never met pick you up from your house,” he said. “I have confidence you’re smarter than that.”
It was the truth. I absolutely wasn’t going to let this guy pick me up from my house. Even though he seemed like a pretty decent guy, you just never knew who someone was until you met them. I’d watched crazy news stories about things happening to women, and I wasn’t going to let anything like that happen to me. I was a single mom and my son had already lost his father – no way was I going to get myself murdered by some lunatic.
My heart raced at the idea of meeting up with this guy. He seemed like a fun and interesting person. I was relieved that he wanted to do a morning date instead of a nighttime one. Morning dates were casual and easier to get out of quickly if need be. It was near impossible to make a quick escape if I agreed to go to dinner with a guy. At least I could plan to meet up with a friend for lunch so I had someone to talk over all the fun date details with.
“It’s a deal. I’ll meet you on Saturday.”
“By the way, your voice sounds just as sexy as that profile picture of yours,” Brandon said and my whole body froze with excitement. “See you Saturday.”
“Bye,” I managed to mumble before hanging up.
My toes tingled with excitement. It had been a long time since a guy had complimented me so well that it had actually thrown me off.
Brandon was handsome, witty, and apparently rich; he was nothing like the type of guy I normally went out with and everything that I’d dreamt of in a guy. The typical man I went out with lived at home with his mother and wanted to split the check. Of course, I never knew these things when I agreed to the dates, but it did seem to be a running theme in my dating history.
I was convinced Brandon and I weren’t going to hit it off that well in person. A bikini picture can catch a guy’s attention, but the real me was a little more boring in person – and I wore a lot more clothes. There wasn’t much of a chance he and I were going to be able to keep up this witty flirtatious banter, although a small part of me hoped we would hit it off.
***
The week was a blur and before I knew it, I was pulling up to Bella’s Bagels. I had spent entirely too long getting ready this morning. I did my hair with the perfect wave of curls; just enough to look sweet, but not too much to look like I had actually curled my hair. I did my makeup in the “no makeup” look, which actually took much more time than just putting makeup on.
I was ready to meet Brandon, and even ready for him to not be interested in me. It was okay; I was just happy to have a real date with a decent guy, and if it didn’t work out, I knew I had at least tried my best.
“Delilah,” I heard a husky voice say from behind me before I had even walked in the front door of the shop. It startled me, and I visibly jumped as I turned around. “Hey, sorry, don’t mace m
e,” Brandon laughed as he jokingly put his hands up in front of his face.
“Oh, wow, yeah, you scared the crap out of me. Yeah, I’m Delilah,” I said as I held my hand out to shake his.
What was I doing? I was actually meeting this total stranger to have a bagel date? It seemed so out of this world that I’d agreed to meet him at all. Memories of Spencer flooded my mind, and I thought about how nervous I’d been around him when we first met.
Brandon seemed like a nice enough guy, but he was much more handsome in person than he had been in his profile…and he was pretty damn handsome in his profile. My hands shook and my voice cracked and I just knew he was going to be able to tell that I wasn’t the kind of girl he wanted to go out with.
“It’s nice to meet you. I was looking for a beautiful blonde in a bikini, but then I decided it was probably a little too chilly for you to wear that on our first date.”
He smiled at me and winked at the same time, and it sent heat flushing right to my cheeks. This guy was drop dead handsome – like Hollywood handsome. In fact, he looked a little familiar to me; maybe he was in the movies or something.
I knew I couldn’t be myself. There was no way a guy like him was going to fall for a girl like me if I was actually my dorky self. I seriously doubted if he was used to dating IT systems administrators or web designers. Nope, I was just going to have to chalk this up to a fun breakfast with a handsome guy I’d never see again.
“Yeah, I’ve got my bikini in the car, if you’d like me to change,” I said as I reached for the door handle.
“Maybe after breakfast. Let’s go sit down.”
His dry sense of humor mixed perfectly with mine. It was actually really hard to find someone who thought I was funny and could understand when I was joking. I’d met a decent number of guys at the bars who thought I was being serious when I said something like I had.